Robert de Niro’s former assistant Chase Robinson is suing him for $12 million for gender discrimination and harassment.
Robert de Niro’s former assistant is suing him for $12 million for gender discrimination and harassment.
The 76-year-old actor had taken legal action against Chase Robinson for allegedly embezzling company funds and she has hit back against his $6 million lawsuit with one of her own.
In her lawsuit, Chase – who is seeking damages for gender discrimination, harassment, back pay and labor law violations – claimed the ‘Joker’ actor had treated her like an “office wife” with duties including scratching his back, buttoning his shirts, doing laundry and vacuuming and subjected her to “unwanted physical contact”.
She also accused Robert of calling her names such as “bitch” and “brat” and alleged he underpaid her compared with a male employee doing similar work.
Her lawsuit stated: “Robert De Niro is someone who has clung to old mores. He does not accept the idea that men should treat women as equals.
“He does not care that gender discrimination in the workplace violates the law.”
The 37-year-old former employee quit over email in April after 11 years working for the actor in various positions because the work had become “so unbearable”.
The ‘Irishman’ star’s lawyer has branded the allegations against the actor “absurd”.
In his own lawsuit, which was filed in August, the ‘Taxi Driver’ star accused his ex-aide of running up expenses and binge-watching Netflix during working hours.
He claimed she had charged hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal expenses on the company credit card, including $32,000 on taxis and over $12,000 at an Italian restaurant over the course of two years.
The ‘Meet the Fockers’ star also accused Chase of spending “astronomical” amounts of time using the company’s Netflix account, including 55 episodes of ‘Friends’ over four days in January and alleged she often “loafed” during work hours, streaming shows like ‘Schitt’s Creek’ and ‘Arrested Development’.
However, Chase insisted she and a colleague had one show on in the background while working on a monotonous task in the office and sometimes used ‘Friends’ as “white noise” as she was falling asleep but “never binge-watched during working hours.”
